Stoneflies. That's the whole thing. People don't get it until they see one. Tie the fly. Match the hatch. Then it clicks. Giant stoneflies. Absolute monsters. You don't even believe bugs get that big until one lands on your arm.

Idaho.

The Salmonfly hatch.

I keep thinking about it. Can't shake it. Those huge dry flies. Trout blowing up on the surface. That's the picture that's stuck in my head. I can already see it.

Might just go by myself.

Honestly, that's usually how these things happen. I get locked onto an idea and it doesn't let go until I do it. One day it's just another thought, and the next I'm packing the truck.

I've got this beautiful rod from Billy Oatron. Every time I look at it, it feels like it's waiting. Like it already knows where it's supposed to be.

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Posted by BobABooey

Parts Unknown

Member since Oct 2004

16194 posts

Posted on 7/10/26 at 12:40 pm to Jerry_Gilroy

As a youngster, the family went to Yellowstone and I tried my luck fishing in Yellowstone River. I had a Zebco outfit I used for bass in LA and tried several spinner type lures without luck. It was frustrating because I could see large trout a few feet off the bank just holding their place in the current. I borrowed a small black dry fly, maybe a gnat, and tied it on my monofilament basing line. I let out about ten feet of line and let the fly dance on the surface right above their heads. I didn’t move the fly or let it drift. After a long period of time, one of the trout was driven insane enough to drift up and snatch the fly.

I repeated this same technique and caught several large trout. My dad, a fly fishing purist, waded around the bend in the river because he was both humiliated and infuriated.

That’s my fly fishing purist story.

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Posted by Stat M Repairman

Member since Jun 2023

3070 posts

Posted on 7/10/26 at 1:22 pm to BobABooey

quote:
I let out about ten feet of line and let the fly dance on the surface right above their heads.

a/k/a dapping or dabbing and it works like a charm because no line touches the water. Often times will let the wind carry the fly until it lands on the water.

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